The Delusive
by Livelife20
Summary: Edward Kenway obviously knew James Kidd from before the events of AC4, so how did they meet? This is my rendition of how I thought it could be. (Don't know if I'll be writing more so I just put it in "In-Progress" for now.)
1. Chapter 1

_**SLIGHT SPOILER IN THE AUTHOR'S COMMENT IF YOU SQUINT, BUT THE STORY DOESN'T.** (Well, if you searched for this specific filter than I guess you already have to know, but you know, whatever.)_

_Welp. I finished AC4 today, and I'm not ashamed to admit that I cried like a little baby all through out the credits just for that one teny tiny scene (if you've finished the game, you know what I'm talking about). Then, once I got myself together, I went on youtube, watched it again, and cried some more XD And while I was watching the cutscenes again, I noticed that Kenway obviously knew Kidd from before the game even began, so this is my version of how they met!_

_On another note, I refuse to accept Mary's fate. The game stopped after sequence 5 for me! :D_

_Anyways, hope you enjoy!_

* * *

_The Delusive_.

Edward Kenway could only barely make out the dark letters etched onto fantail of the mysterious ship through the dense fog. Quickly turning and running closer to _The_ _Splendid Queen's_ stern, he calls out to the helmsman. "Hoy, Royce! I've got eyes on a vessel!"

Edward watched the other man squint his eyes to try see the ship for himself as the Captain, standing right by Royce, responded. "What colors does she fly?"

"Can't tell, what with this wretched mist and all!" Edward answered and ran up the stairs so that he didn't have to yell up to the quarterhelm anymore. The Spaniards were all over these warm waters, so they could never be too careful. Treaty or not, there are still skirmishes between them and her Royal Navy wrecking the West Indies, pointless things that Edward was quickly tiring of. They gained him nothing but lashes and bruises. "Can you see it with your glass?"

Giving Edward a short glance, Captain Winston reaches into his pocket and whips out his spyglass, aiming it towards the ship. There is a pregnant pause as the entire crew, having heard Edward's words, wait for some kind of conformation of her identity. But when nothing comes out of the Captain's mouth for a short time, Royce hesitantly speaks.

"Sir?"

"Damn," is the barely whispered sound that leaves Winston's mouth, apparently having ignored his helmsman's question. Lowering the glass from his eye, his next words come out loud and in a frenzied rush. "Loose all sails! Man the canons! Look alive men, if we can't outrun her, she won't go down without a fight!"

Without so much as a second of hesitation, the crew springs to action, pulling and tightening the rigs while some open the hatch to the deck below. Unconsciously, Winston thrusts his glass into Edward's hands and turns towards Royce. "Give me a hard starboard, we need the wind at our backs if we're to stand any chance at all."

Still completely at a loss of what was actually happening, Edward lifts the glass to his own eye and points it toward the pivoting _Delusive_. Quickly getting his bearings with his now zoomed vision, Edward points his focus to the top of the supposed enemy's main mast and lets out a sound of disbelief at what he sees. There, like a tattered rag flowing in wind, is a black flag, adorned only with a menacing pair of crossed cutlasses.

Collapsing and dropping the spyglass on his own pocket, Edward vaults over the railing and drops down to the main deck. Slipping past dozens of rushed crewman, Edward hastily makes his way to the bow of the brig and onto his assigned chase cannon. As he loads it with care, he keeps a keen eye on the pirate ship that's now on their tail.

The two maidens of the sea were already very close to each other before Kenway had even spotted the other ship, thanks to the fog. So, it doesn't surprise him the _The Delusive_ is already hot on them, nearly in striking distance actually. It's only once his cannon is just primed that he hears the first sounds of the pirate's assault.

Edward immediately drops and covers his head as their chained canon balls rip through their canvas and get tangled in the _Splendid Queen's_ rigged rods. Looking back, Edward notices a particularly nasty hit on the ship's foremast, but his face only falls when he notices how close the enemy ship was closing. The Captain thought the wind would be their savior, but in reality, it only made the pirate's job that much easier. Out of the two, the enemy was obviously equipped with the faster ship.

That's not to say that the _Splendid Queen_ was defenseless though, but with only two canons pointing out of her tail, there was no way they would win unless they took a stand. Winston apparently got the same idea because only a moment later did Kenway hear his Captain's voice ring throughout the brig.

"Portside cannons, on the ready!"

Then Edward grabbed a hold of the ship's railings when he felt the large and sudden turn of the ship, exposing her broadside to the pirates. Winston called for attack soon afterwords and Edward's world was sent into a never ending roar of canon fire. Everywhere around him, splinters blasted off its foundation and men were sent flying through the air by the powerful blasts from both sides. This went on for some time, both sides losing men in the battle at sea, but _The Delusive_ always had the upper hand. Every time she would show us her broadside, where all ships were most exposed, she would always turn right around before we could get a good shot.

However, in the latest moment of quiet while both sides reloaded, Kenway looked back at the condition of The _Splendid Queen_ and saw that the foremast had gotten hit again, but this time it wasn't just a devastating blow, but a lethal one. He watched in horror as a loud _crack_ resounded from the sturdy wood before the mast started to tilt and fall. Moving as fast as he could, Edward bolted out of the way of the falling structure and nearly toppled over himself from the roll of the ship that was made due to the mast's massive shift in weight.

"Cap'n! We should surrender or she's bound to sink us!" Edward hears Royce implore and he can't help but agree. With the foremast down, they've lost a lot of speed and a tremendous amount of balance needed to keep the ship afloat.

"No bloody way!" Winston roars and pulls his sword out of its sheath when he sees the pirate's obvious course to board us now that we're crippled. "She'll not waste all the goods we have on here."

"What goods?!" Edward questions as he sprints up the stairs to join his Captain yet again. In all his time, Kenway had never actually had to deal with pirates before. "We're a British Navy vessel, not a merchant ship!"

There is a short pause as they both look toward the quickly approaching pirate ship before Winston looks to Edward. "Where do you think they get all their guns?"

Looking back out at the attacking ship, Edward can easily hear its crew's howls of spirit, with only one voice barely breaking through and actually giving orders. Edwards scans the crowd as they close in and they are just about the right distance for the pirates to jump and board them when he finally spots the source of the ordering voice. The only reason he could tell that it was the source though, was the methodical movements of the person's sword. The young man clutching it was high up on shroud of _The Delusive_, pointing to groups of men and motioning them around rather than just energetically hoisting his cutlass in the air like the rest of the crew.

This young man was also the first pirate to jump aboard their stagnant ship, and Edward was such in awe of the of the young lad that he nearly forgot that he was the enemy. The roar of a different pirate pulled him back to his senses and Kenway only had a split second to lift his blade in defense before the pirate was on him. Moving quickly, Edward pushed the pirate's sword away in a circular motion before pulling back and gutting him. His body quickly dropped to the ground with a _thud_ and Kenway looked around for any more assailants and isn't surprised to see two more pirates, quickly descending to avenge their mate. He cuts them down without batting and eyelash.

Time passes and the waves of enemies seem never ending until, during a quick breathing moment, Edward hears a sound very close behind him. Without a second to spare, he whips around and lashes out at whoever or whatever it is and is met with a clash of steel on steel. However, his eyes go wide in shock when he looks into the bright brown eyes of the lad he saw earlier, the one who was ordering the men.

"Ya know," the pirate's eyebrow quirks up in amusement at his pause and looks him up and down. "Yu'd probably be more menacin' withou' the bright red coat."

Kenway steps away with a loud grinding of their cutlasses and takes his turn to look the man- or actually, he's not even sure if he can say '_man_' with how fresh the lad looks. He's only just out of manhood, if that, and he's so small in stature and girth. In fact, if Edward hadn't seen him cutting through the crew only moments ago, he wouldn't have even considered him a threat.

Giving the young man a small smirk, Edward continues the banter. "And you'd be more menacing if you stood but a few inches farther off the ground."

"Aye," he answers just before lunging forward with the point of his blade that Edward, in turn, blocks. But before Edward can step away, the pirate spins around, only just able to fit under the arm Edward had used to block his strike, until the two are facing back to back. "bu' then Ah'd be so much less fun ta fight!"

With a panicked grunt, Edward falls forward onto the ground, courtesy of a solid elbow he'd received in the back from the pirate. Edward flips around onto his back before trying to get up, but he's stopped in his tracks when the man places his foot on his chest and his sword to his throat. His eyes glint with mischief as he looks down at Edward, but his words sound deadly serious when he addresses him.

"Yield."

The was no question, Edward either yields or dies. He looks from the pirate's cutlass to the deck around him, strewn with dead bodies on both sides, but mostly his own. Farther down, near the bow, he can see Captain Winston's body soaking in a puddle of his own blood, but he felt no sadness. He had no real love for the now dead man, he was boring, hypocritical, and defensive. This lad standing over him, even only after two or three words with him, was the complete opposite, he could tell. Even as his enemy, Edward found he would rather go with this pirate than stay on this ship any longer.

Kenway looks up at the man with the red bandana and smiles. "Aye, I yield."

* * *

_Good? Bad? Do you want a second part?_

_Please inform me of any mistakes! Thanks! :)_


	2. Chapter 2

**_BLATANT SPOILERS IN THE AUTHOR'S COMMENT BUT, AGAIN, NONE IN THE ACTUAL STORY_.**

_Hey guys, skip this author's comment if you don't want to hear about my AC4 feels, I just need to vent a little, haha. So I got back to the game after the credits, I found that I literally had no will at all to do the side quests anymore. The knowledge that all of the pirates you got to know in the game are gone and Ade not being my quartermaster just put me out entirely. I have a misplaced hatred for Anne (notice I said, "misplaced", as in, I know it's wrong, but it's there anyways) for living through the prison while Mary didn't, so I didn't even make it back on the Jackdaw, I just sat at the tavern and listened to the music for awhile before turning it off._

_The next day I went back and made a new save file called: ForMandT, and I plan on stopping just before the "Unmanned" mission. That way, I can go out and do a lot of the side quests with the knowledge that the pirates are still kicking :) And if I ever feel sad about the fact that I know that Thatch and Mary will die, I can always follow the ever-present exclamation point and visit Kidd on top of that windmill. Gosh, this game has too much of an effect on me..._

_Anyways, hope you enjoy the story!_

* * *

"Alright then," the pirate moved his sword only an inch farther away from Kenway's throat. "Le's go, get up."

At his demand, Edward put his hand on the deck for support and slowly rose onto his feet only to have the man grab him by the collar, whip him around, and shove him back down onto his knees. He heard the pirate scuttle for only a moment before the man's hands were on his, wrapping some kind of tie around his wrists. The pirate's hands were rough, but small, and it gave him a very oxymoronic feeling as they mixed with how soft the cloth being bonded to him was. His attention was quickly pulled away from the anomaly when Edward heard a loud yell from up on the quarterdeck.

"Oi, careful!" Royce's voice drifted down to their ears and Kenway felt his lip quirk up slightly. Of all the bastards on _The Splendid Queen_, Royce was the most tolerable, so if he was happy that anyone lived through the attack but him, Edward was, eh, fine with the fact that it was Royce.

"Friend 'o yours?" Edward hadn't noticed that the pirate had finished with his bonds and was standing by him, cutlass still in hand.

"Friend is a..." another yelp of pain was heard from above. "loose term."

The pirate's face scrunched up slightly in a very curious manner before he commanded again. "Righ', up you get."

Looking up at the lad, Edward couldn't help himself. "Are you just going to push me down again?"

_BAM!_

Edward immediately saw stars from the blunt hit of the pirate's sword. Quickly blinking the tears away, he looked up at the pirate again. "Damnit, man! I was only joking!"

The pirate grabbed Edward by his bonds and lifted him onto his feet in a very uncomfortable manner. His voice sounded sovereign when he responded. "So was Ah."

Grumbling slightly, Edward stretched his neck and quickly looked around the ship again. The (relatively) laid back manor that the pirate was handling him made sense when he noticed that there were no naval men left fighting on _The Splendid Queen_. Most of them were dead, and Edward was perhaps the last one who had conceded to the pirates. Looking around as he walked, Edward almost lost his footing in one of the many holes in the ship's deck.

It was almost a miracle that she was still afloat, the main sail was in embers, slowly dying away into the mist while water was freely pouring into the lower decks. And that's not even considering the devastating damage that the foremast did to her bow. The poor thing was on her deathbed. Edward may not have particularly liked the job he was doing on her, but he would mourn the passing of the maiden.

"Shame really," the pirate echoed Edward's thoughts as he prodded him along towards a plank attached to _The Delusive_. "Would've liked to've kept her."

As Edward walked across the board towards the other vessel, the first seeds of doubt began to creep into his conscious. The small pirate who was currently leading him along may have spared him, and even conversed with him, but men waiting for them upon _The Delusive_ gave him pause. Their eyes were bloodshot, their muscles bulging, and it seemed, by law, that they all had to be at least four inches taller than him. As his leather boots made their way through the unfamiliar planks, the pirates looked down at him with distain etched on their features.

"Line 'em up there." the lad leading him calmly ordered before shoving Edward down yet again with surprising force.

Finding himself on his knees by the railing of _The Delusive_, Edward waited for his companions to join him. There were only two other survivors besides Royce and himself, and one by one they were placed next to Edward until all were on their knees, facing the pirate crew. The man who had captured him, the one with the red bandana, was standing in front of them all with his arms crossed and a studious look on his face.

The lad took a second and clicked his tongue before he took a step towards them. "Ah'm going to make this very simple. No harm'll come to you s'long as you swabs behave on my ship-"

"_Your_ ship?" one of the captured navy men, who's name Edward couldn't recall, spoke up in disbelief.

The small pirate's head shot up and focused on the end of the line where the poor soul was kneeled. There was a pause, where the pirate's brown eyes narrowed, before he took three quick calculated steps toward the prisoner and knelt down to his level. The pirate got so close to the prisoner that their noses were only millimeters apart, and that was already after the fact the the sailor had leaned away as far as he could.

"Aye, this is my ship, and Ah'm James Kidd, her Captain. Have ya got a problem with that? Or would'ja like to ask your mates over there on _The Queen's _deck abou' it?"

The air was so quiet that Edward, having had the honor of being right next to the scene, heard the navyman gulp. The Captain's Yorkshire accent had gone dark, having lost all of its seemingly ever-present mirth from before. Not daring to even turn his head, Edward glanced at the two out of the corner of his eye, and the look on the Captain Kidd's face made him immediately take back what he thought earlier about the crew being his only concern on this ship.

In fact, the crew wasn't even on the list anymore.

"No?" Kidd questioned and the sailor let out a small whimper. "Good."

Kidd finished, reverting back to what Kenway could only assume to be normal, and took a step back. Turning to one of the crewmen closest to him, he ordered. "Take 'em below. Ah'll figure out what ta do with 'em la'er."

"Aye, sir," the man answered and moved toward them, helping the sailor up who had just been harassed by Kidd. Apparently, he couldn't get his legs under him because they were shaking so much.

Kenway had to hold back a laugh at the sailor's expense, but a small sound did betray and escape his throat, causing Kidd to look over at him. It was a fleeting moment, but Kidd immediately understood what Edward was chuckling about and had to hold down a smile of his own. Watching Kidd trying to keep a straight face only made Edward want to laugh even more.

Jaysus, what on God's green Earth was wrong with him?

Only a minute ago, Edward was afraid to even move in the presence _The Delusive's_ Captain, and now he was laughing with him like they were chums. The other prisoners from _The Splendid Queen_ had been, and still are, pale with fear at being aboard the pirate ship, and yet Edward found he couldn't be more at home.

As the prisoners where herded below deck, they were met with the familiar sights of crew's quarters. But what wasn't familiar were the instruments strewed about everywhere and the crew actually smiling. They got a few odd looks as they passed some, but they were mostly ignored as they shuffled along to the stern of the ship.

When they reached the far end of the brig, the crewman escorting them sat them down and locked each of their ankles in a long set of leg irons. Once secure, the crewman went to each of their backs and undid their bounds, and Edward was surprised to find that the cloth that had been binding his hands was actually an orange bandana. The escort dropped the ropes that were the other men's bindings, but put the bandana in his pocket before stepping out of the room.

Well, '_room_' was perhaps giving it too much credit. It was more like a section blocked off by a small wall. The crew could still see them from their recreational area and their bunks, so there was no need to have someone guarding the prisoners.

The first hour went by pretty quick, the other three talked morbidly about their fate while Edward sometimes added in his two cents, but mostly, he found his interest in the workings of the ship. Up to this point Edward had been working on the sea for nearly a year, but he had never gotten to see a ship captained by a man other than Winston. In military vessels, there is strict order in when they work, how they work, in everything they did. There, on _The Delusive_, there was still order, but there was something more homey about it. On _The Splendid Queen_, every cannon and floor had been clean, and again, the same went for _The Delusive_, but if he squinted, Edward could see writing on the cannons below deck. Each and every one had its own name.

For some reason, that simple fact sent a thrill shivering down his spine.

... ... ... ... ... ...

"Oi! What're ya doin' ya skirt wearin' scab?!" Edward heard Kidd's now familiar voice float down as he scolded one of the many men on the upper deck.

It seemed to be a common place upon _The Delusive_ for Kidd to constantly berate his crew for doing something wrong. Every few hours Edward would hear the Captain make his rounds to every man and either yell at, hit, or punish him for something. It had been Edward's main source of entertainment while chained to the deck.

A tad past dusk, Edward looked up from counting the floorboards to see most of the crew scuffling and making their way down the hatches and towards the bunks. They were a loud and rowdy crowd as they sang, relaxed and gambled with each other in their down time. Edward almost called out, wanting to ask one of them for a sip of the rum they were drinking, but thought better of it kept his mouth shut and just continued to watch.

"Quite an interesting group of people." Royce, sitting next to him, suddenly mused after awhile.

"Aye," Edward answered and made a mental bet about who would win the fanorona game that two of the crewmen were playing close by.

Another hour passed before Edward first heard the humming.

It was quiet, barely reaching his eardrums at first, but it swiftly became more dominant by the second. As if the sound was some kind of signal, the crew quickly went silent, looking up at the deck above, the source, for a short moment before standing and packing up whatever it was they had been doing. The few men who had still been above deck clambered down the hatches and wordlessly made their way to their bunks. And soon, the only sounds that could be heard from the crew were the scraping of chairs and rustling of sheets.

Edward had honestly never seen anything quite like it. With the person humming a tune above, the men undressed and crawled into their beds until all was still but the rocking of the ship. Edward shot Royce, Cutler, and Sam (he'd finally remembered their names after a time) a dumbstruck sidelong glance, but didn't say a word, too afraid to break the unearthly spell on the ship.

There was someone on the deck above, walking across the expanses of the crew's quarters, humming a calming tune. The man's footsteps were very light, barely making any noise as he walked above them. Edward looked up through the grates when he heard them come near and was stupefied when he caught a glimpse of Kidd's red bandana on top of their head. The rest of _The Delusive's_ Captain was too obscured by darkness to be made out, but by the light of one of the dim lanterns above, Edward watched Kidd casually step over the hatch and out of his sight, taking the sound with him. Still completely perplexed, but also starting to understand the hypnotic lure of Kidd's voice, Edward gave in and laid his head down on the hard wood, listening and letting the roll of the waves rock his body.

Edward had just about dozed off when he heard Kidd start to sing.

"_My boat's by the tower, my bark's on the bay,_  
_And both must be gone at the dawn of the day._  
_The moon's in her shroud, and to light thee afar,_  
_On the deck of the Daring's a love-lighted star._

"_So wake, lady wake, I am waiting for thee,_  
_On this night or never, my bride thou shalt be,_  
_So wake, lady wake, I am waiting for thee,_  
_On this night or never, my bride thou shalt be,_

"_Forgive my rough mood, unaccustomed to sue;_  
_I woo not, perhaps, as your landlubbers do._  
_My voice is attuned to the sound of the gun,_  
_That startles the deep when the combat's begun._

"So_ wake, lady wake, I am waiting for thee,_  
_On this night or never, my bride thou shalt be,_  
_So wake, lady wake, I am waiting for thee,_  
_On this night or never, my bride thou shalt_ be..."

It was like a mother singing a lullaby to her children. Kidd's pitch didn't reach very low, enhancing the feeling, and the melody was slow and soothing to Edward's ears. It was even so serene and loving that if Edward were the kind of man to admit such things, just before he drifted off to sleep, he would've said that it was beautiful.

* * *

_Good? Bad? Did anyone else immediately guess Kidd's secret the moment they laid eyes on him in the game? Idk, even before I knew it for sure, I always thought that he would have an interesting singing voice. Geez, I don't even know if this story is any good anymore... I might just rewrite this entire chapter later if I ever come to my senses..._

_I'll PM you a youtube link for the song if anyone wants it._

_Please inform me of any mistakes. Thanks! :)_


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